Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies in Popular Beliefs in Sixteenth and Seventeenth-Century EnglandWitchcraft, astrology, divination and every kind of popular magic flourished in England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, from the belief that a blessed amulet could prevent the assaults of the Devil to the use of the same charms to recover stolen goods. At the same time the Protestant Reformation attempted to take the magic out of religion, and scientists were developing new explanations of the universe. Keith Thomas's classic analysis of beliefs held on every level of English society begins with the collapse of the medieval Church and ends with the changing intellectual atmosphere around 1700, when science and rationalism began to challenge the older systems of belief. |
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... (Henry Bradshaw Soc., 1960) R. Scot, The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584) (The best modern edition is by B. Nicholson [1886]. The most recent (by H. R. Williamson, [1964]) has been siently abbreviated) Sloane MSS (British Museum) Society ...
... (Henry Bradshaw Soc., 1960) R. Scot, The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584) (The best modern edition is by B. Nicholson [1886]. The most recent (by H. R. Williamson, [1964]) has been siently abbreviated) Sloane MSS (British Museum) Society ...
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... Henry VIII's visitors found five or six hundred worshippers at the shrine on the day they went there to pull it down.4 Saints indeed were believed to have the power to bestow diseases as well as to relieve them. 'We worship saints for ...
... Henry VIII's visitors found five or six hundred worshippers at the shrine on the day they went there to pull it down.4 Saints indeed were believed to have the power to bestow diseases as well as to relieve them. 'We worship saints for ...
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... Henry VII's queen paid 6s. 8d. to a monk for a girdle of Our Lady for use in childbirth.9 The variety of other secular contexts in which saints could also be invoked is indicated by John Aubrey's nostalgic description of the part they.
... Henry VII's queen paid 6s. 8d. to a monk for a girdle of Our Lady for use in childbirth.9 The variety of other secular contexts in which saints could also be invoked is indicated by John Aubrey's nostalgic description of the part they.
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... Henry VIII the Marchioness of Exeter paid twenty shillings to Elizabeth Barton, the Nun of Kent, to pray that she would not lose her next child in childbirth, and that her husband would come home safely from the wars.66 Sir Thomas More ...
... Henry VIII the Marchioness of Exeter paid twenty shillings to Elizabeth Barton, the Nun of Kent, to pray that she would not lose her next child in childbirth, and that her husband would come home safely from the wars.66 Sir Thomas More ...
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... Henry Barrow pointed out the magical notions implicit in the whole structure of existing church buildings. At their foundation, he observed, between their holy and holiest of all. The priest also. the first stone must be laid by the ...
... Henry Barrow pointed out the magical notions implicit in the whole structure of existing church buildings. At their foundation, he observed, between their holy and holiest of all. The priest also. the first stone must be laid by the ...
Contents
Ghosts and Fairies | |
Times and Omens | |
Cunning Men and Popular Magic | |
Magic and Religion | |
its Practice and Extent | |
its Social and Intellectual Role | |
Astrology and Religion | |
THE APPEAL TO THE PAST 13 Ancient Prophecies WITCHCRAFT | |
the Crime and its History | |
Witchcraft and Religion | |
The Decline of Magic | |
Index | |
Providence | |
Prayer and Prophecy 6 Religion and the People | |
Magical Healing | |
The Making of a Witch | |
Witchcraft and its Social Environment | |
Decline | |
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Common terms and phrases
2nd edn accused almanac Archaeol Ashm Ashmole astrological Aubrey Autobiography belief Bishop Bodl Book Cambridge Catholic chap charms Christian Church clergy clients confessed conjuration contemporary courts cunning cunning folk cure curse death declared Devil Diary Discourse Discoverie disease divine doctrine early ecclesiastical Elizabeth Elizabethan England English Essex evil Ewen example fairies faith G. G. Coulton Gadbury Gentilisme ghosts God's healing Henry Hist History holy Hugh Latimer intellectual John John Aubrey John Dee John Gadbury John Jewel Josten Journ judicial astrology King Kittredge Lilly Lilly's Lollards London magic medicine medieval misfortune natural Oxford Parish persons Physicians plague popular practice prayer predictions prognostication prophecies prophetic prosecution Protestant Puritan Records Reformation Reginald Scot reign religion religious Richard ritual Robert Royal scepticism Science Scot Sermons sixteenth century Sloane social society sorcery spirits supernatural Superstitions Thomas thought trans Treatise Tudor William William Lilly William Perkins witch-beliefs witchcraft witches wizard woman